Now that the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is safely in early adopters’ hands, we can turn our attention to the next big Samsung flagship: the Galaxy S21.
We’ve already heard one report that the processor might not be the improvement we’re looking for, but even if that is the case, we’ve got a clear boost coming in another area: battery life.
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First spotted by Dutch site Galaxy Club, Samsung seems to be prepping a new high-capacity battery with the catchy serial number of EB-BG996ABY. That number suggests this is heading for a smartphone with the model number SM-G996 which, if past form is a guide, will be the Plus variant of an upcoming Galaxy S. In other words, it would be pretty surprising if this wasn’t destined for next year’s Galaxy S21 Plus.
The battery itself has a rated capacity of 4,660mAh, and although the report doesn’t reveal its typical capacity (the metric smartphones share on the box), we can make an educated guess based on the current Galaxy S20 Plus. Said phone has a rated capacity of 4,370mAh with a typical capacity of 4,500mAh. A similar 3% increase with the S21’s battery would give us a typical capacity of 4,800mAh.
That seems about par for Samsung’s recent year-on-year battery improvements. The S20 Plus’ 4,500mAh battery was itself a 400mAh improvement on the S10 Plus.
A phone’s actual stamina is defined by more than just battery capacity, of course, so whether you’ll need to charge it less often is yet to be seen. A lot depends on what SoC the S21 ends up using, and how power hungry the screen is. Last year’s addition of a 120Hz mode was a bit of a battery drain in itself – which might explain why Samsung made users choose between 2K resolution and a enhanced refresh rate.
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